Solar Rickshaws Hit the Streets of Delhi

Spend any time in Delhi and you’ll see endless lines of bicycle rickshaws filling the city’s streets. They provide quick, cheap transportation for millions of people, but what about the poor guy behind the handlebars? Pedaling one of those things around has to be exhausting.

That’s one reason the emergence of India’s first solar-electric bicycle rickshaws is so cool. Not only do they offer a smooth, zero-emissions ride, they’ll give long-suffering rickshaw drivers a break from 12-hour days that would exhaust Lance Armstrong.
The soleckshaw, is motor-assisted bike that features a hub-mounted motor driven by a 36-volt battery juiced (or swapped) at a solar charging station. The soleckshaw has room for three and reaches 12.5 miles per hour. Drivers can trundle along under their own power on flat roads, then switch on the motor to scoot up hills or give themselves a break if the load gets too heavy.

We don’t buy the government’s argument that the soleckshaw will do much to help the environment because they’re most likely going to replace traditional pedal-powered rickshaws. But we’re all for what they might do for for the lives of the people who drive them. The whole idea of rickshaw transportation is seen by some as inhumane and cruel, with many drivers coming from the country’s poorest areas and working 10 to 12 hour days, seven days a week. A battery powered variation would reduce wear and tear on drivers, and that’s good news for a group of people already living in poverty.

Wired